Health and Socio-Psychological Problems of Special Group Families

Abstract

The families with many variations, ranging from couples with or without children to single parent families and multigenerational families confront management problems of different nature. The single parent situation represents one of the most significant changes affecting the family system. The issue of the single parent family in the Indian context is complicated one, requiring investigation on various dimensions of the problems. So, the present study was undertaken to examine the problems faced by single parents (females) of Ludhiana and its effects on their behaviour. The study was conducted on purposively selected 120 females who were running their household alone themselves. A well structured questionnaire was administered to the respondents for collecting data. The results of the study revealed that 28.4 per cent of the respondents had weak health status and majority of the respondents (88.4%) suffered from stress and strain. In case of 33.4 per cent of respondents, at the time of illness, care was taken by their sons. About 81.7 per cent of the respondents reported lack of interest in social activities and 96.7 per cent of the respondents suffered from loneliness.